Texans celebrate independence today

Members of the Texas Army National Guard serving in Afghanistan show their state spirit before Texas Independence Day, which is today. The soldiers are assigned to the 56th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and are conducting a Security Force Assistance Team operation in the Uruzgan province. (Sgt. Jessi Ann McCormick / U.S. Army)

Jerriann Garcia posed a simple question to her sixth-grade history class Friday at MacArthur Middle School.

"What is important about March 2?" she asked.

It took three guesses, but she finally got the answer that would shape the day's lesson plan - Texas Independence Day.

Most of her students knew that Texas was once a part of Mexico and that a bloody battle was fought at the Alamo.

But not all of them knew that as Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna charged through San Antonio, Texas delegates declared independence during a meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

Garcia said students are not the only ones who forget Texas Independence Day.

"I think in this part of the state it does (get forgotten)," Garcia said.

REPORTER

Aaron Bracamontes

"In East Texas, where you have more of the celebrations going on and the sites of all these different historical events like Washington-on-the-Brazos and the Alamo, people are more aware of it."

Barbra Angus, senior curator for the El Paso Museum of History, said children are usually more aware of Texas Independence Day than adults.

"Really, there are not so many people curious about it," Angus said.

"It is usually more the schoolchildren who are knowledgeable about it, because they are studying it in class."

El Paso was not a large part of Texas' fight for independence and that might be why it gets overlooked sometimes in the city, Angus said.

Garcia will teach the Texas Revolution for the next four weeks.

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Her goal is to bring Texas history closer to home "by doing things that put them in the shoes of people who lived back then," Garcia said.

"Like today I had them pretend they had a relative at Washington-on-the-Brazos and write that relative a letter."

She tried to hammer the point home by explaining that as delegates debated separating from Mexico, their fellow citizens were being slaughtered at the Alamo.

"How do you think people felt when the convention broke up?" Garcia asked her class. "Some were saying, 'Let's go, let's get to the Alamo.' And others were loading up and getting out of town because they didn't want to be murdered by Santa Anna."

Garcia said the Texas Revolution lesson will continue through March.

Each year, the lessons become some of the students' favorites.

"Sometimes I'll maybe have them design like a flag from that time and have them describe what it represents," Garcia said. "With the Internet now, some of the kids will go home and look things up and come back and tell me what they found out."

Aaron Bracamontes may be reached at abracamontes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6156. Follow him on Twitter @AaronBrac